What's in your basement?
by PuppetPete1
Summary: Rhoda and her parents move to a mostly quiet neighborhood. However Rhoda quickly learns not everything is what it seems. Her neighbor is hiding something, can she and her friends find the truth. When they do what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

What's in Your basement?

Chapter one: Goodbye normal, hello neighbor

* * *

It was a Normal and warm summer day. Rhoda and her parents just finished unloading the big to small boxes out of the moving van into their small but perfect new home. The exterior was painted blue while the interior had aslightly darker blue color painted on the walls with a horizontal leaf pattern. The floors were made up of wooden planks.

It appeared that they had moved to a quiet neighborhood, with not many people to be seen either.

The only thing within miles that was out of place was the house next door. Seriously it was the biggest house on the block; it was four stories high.

Soon Rhoda Gustus finished unpacking all her belongings into her new room upstairs. She was beat from helping out so she wanted to rest on her bed which needed to be made. before she could even close her eyes her mother came in the room.

"Sweetie, get out out of bed." she said in a sweet tone "And go make some friends with the other kids." She walked over to Rhoda's bed and shook her until she finally got up.

"Alright, I'm up. happy now." She exclaimed in an annoyed way.

Sure enough her mother smiled with content. she quickly handed her a brown bag. The bag had a wonderful smell. Rhoda checked its contents and was surprised and excited to find a sandwich but not just any sandwich; it was her mom's special recipe made using her homemade secret sauce. Rhoda still hasn't figured out how she makes it.

Rhoda gave her mother a big hug which she returned back. Soon the hug ended and Rhoda left her room to go make some friends. Her mother giggled and sighed with content "I hope she makes some wonderful friends again."

-ooooo-

The outside was a bit dark with night coming soon but Rhoda was determined to at least meet some of her neighbors. As she walked she heard the sound of cheering. She followed the noise to a nearby empty lot with five teens playing baseball.

she was a teenager herself; she was fourteen years old. They looked between the ages fourteen and sixteen. she walked over to them and asked "Can I join in?" They stopped all they were doing for a moment and saw Rhoda who was wearing grey pants with a yellow hooded jacket with the words "rainbows and clouds" on the front.

A tall boy with dark brown hair, a black jacket, and blue pants who was holding the baseball bat said in a cool voice "I don't know can you?" Rhoda felt as if she had just done something stupid. She was worried that she just ruined her chance to make a friend. He smiled "I'm just joking, sure you join." He told her as he handed the bat to her "No hard feelings, right? Also my name is Toby Chaple. What's yours?"

She was relieved to hear that it was just a joke. A bad one but also pretty funny. Soon she and the other were laughing about it. Once her fit of laughter ended she said "Rhoda. I'm Rhoda Gustus."

Afterwards they restarted the game. Rhoda was assigned as the batter. She walks up to and stands on the home plate. Once there she gets ready to swing.

The girl younger than her spits to her left side and announces "Are you ready noob?" she said this with an intimidating glare.

Rhoda was slightly terrified but nether the less she showed no fear. To show this she returned her glare with her own. with that Clara who is the pitcher threw the ball and Rhoda missed. She almost screamed but contained her cry.

The pitcher smiled at her miss and asked "Are you ready now or do you give up?"

She was more determined to hit that ball. So she got ready to swing again. With one fast movement Clara throws the ball once more. When it was close enough Rhoda swings and makes the hit.

Everyone was excited and surprised.

A blond haired boy with a bow tie yelled "That has got to be a home run."

Another one had screamed out while keeping his pointer finger locked on the ball "OH NO! Look where it's going!"

Everyone's eyes followed the baseball's direction and saw that it was heading for their neighbor's second story window. Before they knew it a loud shattering noise came from the house.

The pitcher turned to Rhoda and yelled "way to go, you lost our ball!"

Rhoda exclaimed in defense "I'm sorry, it's not like I could predict and stop that from happening!"

"Calm down Clara." Toby said "You know she's got a point. we can't exactly predict that something like that would happen."

"I know that Toby but that's not why I'm mad. I'm mad because of where it went. After all we used my dad's favorite baseball, the one signed by his favorite batter! The one who passed away therefore he can't replace it!"

Rhoda was a bit confused and asked "what's wrong with where it went?"

They all gave her a strange look. She was worried again that she said something wrong. They then started to give each other similar glances and came to a silent agreement.

The older girl with glasses began to tell her "That house belongs to the Neighbor."

Rhoda didn't understand what she meant by "the Neighbor" so she asked "Who's the neighbor?"

They once again gave each other the strange glances from before and once again silently agreed to tell her what they knew but before someone could speak the street lights became active and illuminated the darkening street.

They all stared at their watches and the time was 7:29 PM. with that knowledge they packed all their stuff, said goodbye to each other, and left the lot. Rhoda was disappointed that they didn't finish telling her what she asked.

However she refused to let the first day in a new town end with her making an enemy so she decides without a second thought to retrieve the ball from the four story unstable looking house. with that she proceeded to cross the street and head over to the house.

-ooooo-

There she stood just outside the house's gate. It was surrounded by a white picket fence. The yard looked like it hasn't been mowed in months. There was a driveway which led from the opened garage to the road.

She didn't care for her mission now was to retrieve the ball. She cautiously walked through the gate and up the porch steps. once in front of the door she rang the doorbell but no one answer. She tried again but still no one answered. She was starting to get annoyed when she remembered that the garage was empty which only meant one thing.

"Oh my god. No one is home!" She murmured to herself. She would have thought she was stupid if it weren't for her grades saying other wise, mostly B and A's on her report card. This is one of many things that makes her parents proud of her.

She tried the door knob herself but it wouldn't budge.

She now knew that no one was going to open the door. However the garage door was wide open and though it seems like an illegal thing to do but she was going to break in to get the ball back.

She went down the porch steps and entered the garage and started to check around the garage. She was glad she did because in the garage were two doors and at the bottom of the steps attached to one of the doors was an active and dangerous bear trap.

That is really dangerous. Why would anyone have a bear trap in their garage? Heck, why would anyone have one in their house at all?

She wasn't sure if this was apart of the owner's security system or something but she still need to find that ball. So instead of taking the dangerous door she'll take the side door which looked safe enough until she turned the knob. The door wouldn't open even slightly.

She whispered to herself "Darn, Looks like I'm going to have to try the other one."

unfortunately the trap was in the way and she didn't want to find out how painful it was. She had to get passed it somehow. As she looked around the answer had struck her harder than a baseball to the head. Leaning on the side of a metal shelf was a broomstick. She took it and carefully pushed it down on the pressure plate. In one fast movement the broomstick became two. The teeth of the trap snapped and was no longer a threat.

Her plan worked but she destroyed someone else's property so she assumed it was twenty dollars. Afterwards she put the broom back where she found it and placed the money next to it.

Once she did that she hoped that this door was unlocked. She had her fingers crossed on one hand while she used the other to reach for the knob. She then turned the knob. The door had opened up all the way. She was very grateful that this door was opened. She went through the door and into the house.

-ooooo-

Rhoda found herself in a pitch black hallway she looked around for something to turn on the lights. Luckily there was a light switch very close by. With one flick the hall lit up. She got back to the mission at hand. She looked to the left which had a right turn at the end of the hall and then to the left which lead to the living room and a staircase; which at the bottom was the baseball which for some reason was wet.

The outside of of the house was had a unstable look to it but the interior looked quite nice and well furnished too.

She sprinted towards where it was as she did she looked to the right and saw that the second door in the garage was blocked by a brown square back chair. She picked the wet baseball up. She examined it a little to make sure it was the right one. Very quickly she found the autographed part of the ball.

It was mission accomplished from there so the only thing left to do was to leave before she was caught. When something caught her eye. It was the glowing orange light that was coming from the door on the side of the stair case.

she wasn't sure why but she was curious, intrigued as if whatever was inside was calling out for her to check inside.

She took a step closer and then another and another. Finally she was close enough to grab the knob and open the red color door. She was about to do that very thing, open the door and look. She began to reach her left arm towards the knob.

Suddenly she heard footsteps but before she could turn toward the origin of the noise a hand weariness black rubber glove swiftly came out of no where and grabbed her left wrist.

She looked to who it belonged to and it was a man with a bushy mustache. He also wore yellow longed sleeved shirt with a blue sweater that had a diamond pattern on top, orange slack pants, and on his face was an expression of pure intimidation.

"What are you doing in my house?" He growled. He asked her again bu more demanding "What are you doing in my house?"

Rhoda could only shiver in fright. She had been caught and was worried about what might happen next.

-ooooo-

Down the block earlier a red car was approaching. It was coming in slow enough to obey the speed limit but fast enough to get back home as quick as possible. As it got closer it started to slow down.

The red car pulled into the drive way of the unstable looking house. Soon it came to a complete stop.

The driver's seat door opened up and the owner of the house had emerged from the car. Once out he brought out his keys and opened the trunk where he took out some grocery bags, most of which contained more milk cartons than necessarily needed for one man living by himself.

As soon as he took a glance at his garage he saw that his bear trap was activated and to the side was a broken broom with twenty dollars next to it. He got very furious with what he thought had happened while he was shopping.

"If I find an intruder in my home they'll regret ever even looking at my home." He dropped the two bags of groceries he had in his arms and rushed into the garage. He was making loud taps on the ground with each step.

As soon as he passed through the opened door he looked to the right and saw the intruder. His expression turned to anger as he walked up to her. He increased his speed once he saw that she was reaching for the knob to his basement.

No I can't let this happen again.

I have to stop you before you find out too.

He quickly ran towards her and grabbed her by the wrist. Once he did she had a look of terror all over her face. He then growled the question "What are you doing in my house?" She didn't respond so he asked again but in a more demanding tone "What are you doing in my house?"

She nearly choked trying to get her answer out "I was playing baseball earlier with some of the neighborhood kids and I was batter and well..." The look he was giving her was making her more and more nervous with each word she spoke.

"And what else?" He asked her raising an eyebrow.

She spoke the last couple of words very, very quickly "I...I hit the baseball too hard and it went into your house and I went to ask for it back but you weren't home so I thought I could just find it myself and get out before you notice." She paused for a second to breathe "And I found the ball and was about to leave but got caught so that's what happened." She said while showing him the now dried baseball.

He gave her a smirk and announced "Is that all?"

She nodded her head yes. She figured he understood and would let her leave. And she also hoped he would except the replacement money for the broom she broke.

He then told her in a calm voice "You know. That's how I know you're not telling me everything."

Rhoda's eyes widen in terror.

She was wondering what could he mean.

After all she told him everything.

Did she?

He then looked up at the door and said "You left out the part about you trying to enter my basement."

She realized that she did forget to mention that and she waited for him to say anything else. She was hoping that he would let her go free this time.

He finally said something after one minutes of silence "What did you see?"

She wasn't sure what he was asking but nevertheless she answered unsurely "Nothing, I guess?"

"Let me rephrase that. What did you see in my basement?"

With a better worded question she could now respond better "Nothing, you stopped me before I could even touch the door."

He had an angry but deductive expression on his face now "Are you sure you didn't see anything? Not a single thing? Are you really sure?

"Yes, yes, and yes I'm absolutely sure I saw nothing.

He spoke in a slightly creepy tone "That's wonderful, also the broom only costs one dollar but since you claim to have broken my window I'll keep all of it." He showed her the twenty she left in the garage and tucked it into his left pocket. She was beginning to feel like a fool. He dragged her away from the basement door and towards the front door which he unlocked and pushed her out. "Now that that's settled I will only say this once. Stay. Out. Of. MY! HOUSE!" He topped off his fury by slamming the door on her.

-ooooo-

She was left outside on the porch of his house. It was darker than earlier so she looked at her watch and the current time was 7:52 PM; just eight minutes before she misses curfew. Her parents would allow her to stay out as long as she returned home before eight.

I can make it home if I Run...

But what is up with my neighbor though?

What was in his basement that is so secretive that he is boarding it up right now?

wait...what?

She stared from the sidewalk and she saw correctly. Through the neighbor's window the neighbor was as quickly as he stopped from touching the knob, now boarding up his basement door. For every hit he made with the yellow handled hammer it gave out a loud clank sound.

She stared from the distance, not wanting to miss every moment. She brought her sandwich from earlier and began to eat as she watched unnoticed. As soon as he finished nailing the two boards to the door he threw the hammer to the side and mumbled something to himself. And she saw the most awkward thing ever. He was having an arguement with a mannequin sitting on the couch watching T.V.

Is he arguing with a mannequin?

and losing?

He now placed both his hands on both sides of his head. He looked like he was about to cry when the channel changed by itself. He brought his head up and soon what looked like an argument turned into an apology.

Well this is awkward.

I'm just going to leave now.

Next thing she knew she was looking both ways and ran across the street. Just moments away from the door when she heard beeping from her wrist. It was 8:00PM.

-ooooo-

She was now inside the house. To her surprise it was now furnished with more than half the furniture they brought.

Wow.

They did a great job at decorating.

I wonder why it's so quiet.

"I'm home! Hello!"

She checked the living room and no one was there. Then the giant kitchen. She didn't find her parents but she found a note on the table.

Sorry if we're gone but while we were redecorating your father was bitten by a Black Widow and needed quick emergency care so if you need us here's our location.

189 Cherrywood Lane, GoodCare Clinic.

The note was passed written quickly so the writing was a little messy.

"I guess I'll wait for them to come home?"

She knew that she might be home alone for awhile so she decided to get some rest. Rhoda put the note back on the table where she found it. Next she proceeded to head towards her still not fully decorated room.

-ooooo-

Rhoda walks through the doors to her room and jumps onto the bed. She looks up at the ceiling for a few minutes while humming to herself.

She Looked at the clock. The time was 8:47PM.

They've been gone for awhile now?

I wonder if I should check on them?

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Or should I answer the door first?

Knock! Knock! Knock!

wait what?

She got out of bed and she heard right. Someone was at the door, and they sounded like they desperately wanted in. She hurried out of the bed and into the hall where she proceeded to descend the stairs only for her to face trouble. On one of the steps a shoe was laying there and she tripped on it causing her to tumble down the step. Luckily it was not a long fall but it was painful.

-ooooo-

She was lying there on the bottom of the steps.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Rhoda quickly recovered and rushed for the door. She reaches for the knob and to her fearful surprise it was her next door neighbor.

He had a irritated look on his face almost like he wished he wasn't there at all.

His eye had twitched while he said "uhh umm. Does this belong to you." He showed her a decorated jewel earring.

Rhoda felt her left ear and realized very quickly that she was missing her favorite earring. It was very important to her. It was a gift from her grandma before she...she...Well let's just say in involved a camping trip on a unstable cliff top.

"Ye-yes that's mine."

How could I have nearly lost my grandma's gift?

That thing is more important to me than...than anything.

Sign of tears developed in her eyes. It was obvious that she was upset about losing the earring. The neighbor gave a disgusted look at her.

"Here just take it before you make me gag!"

Once she received the earring he began to stomp away.

WOW! is he always this cranky or is it just me?

She took a very good look at her earring and finally tear broke out preventing her from continuing her examination on the valued object. She got on her knees and continued her crying.

"I'm sorry grandma, I'm sorry for almost loosing you gift. I wish you were here." she said every word honestly and with true sadness.

The somber scene ended quickly when the telephone that hung next to the kitchen door had started to ring.

She sluggishly got up and hurried for the red colored phone. She made it on time to answer it.

She answered in a tone that was nervous but mostly as if she had recently just cried "Umm...hello"

An answer came quickly out "If you live in this house you have better keep your nose in your own business. If you proceed to keep up any pursuit for what lurks under the neighbors home-" He paused for a moment but his tone was threatening. Rhoda's sadness had been replaced with Fear. Once more he continued "-Then. You. Will. Truly. Regret. It"

The caller left before she could say anything.

What is going on!?

This neighborhood was beginning to become strange. For one the neighbor argues with a mannequins, His house has it's own train apparently, Mysterious phone threats, and probably more that she isn't aware of.

If this much excitement can happen in one day.

What's going to happen tomorrow?

And what's in the basement?

She wasn't sure why but her curiosity made her want to know. it was like something from inside was calling for her to come. She walked into the living room and looked out the window at the neighbor's home.

"I have to know? I just have to know...what are you hiding?" She told to herself as if it were the last thing she would do.

* * *

Remember this is my first fan fiction writing so if you notice anything wrong let me know but try not to be too harsh and I hope you enjoyed it.


	2. Chapter 2

What's in your basement?

Chapter two: The locked closet.

* * *

One day has passed since Rhoda's encounter with her neighbor. She took a look at her calendar from the comfort of her tidy bed. It revealed that there were only three more weeks until summer was over and school was on.

Great summer is nearly over.

And school is almost here.

Well I better go look for Clara and return her father's ball.

She got up from her bed and exited the room. She proceed to do her daily morning routine of brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, and greeting her parents, which she ended up doing to her mom only due to her dad was currently being monitored at the hospital for awhile.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda left the house to see if any of the neighborhood kids were at the lot. She had little luck for they were not there. Which makes sense for it was kind of early in the morning. Nevertheless she stayed there hoping one of them would show up.

Someone did show up after a few minutes waiting.

It was the older girl with the glasses from yesterday riding on a red bicycle, the one who was playing as backup batter. She was wearing a Bright purple vest and wearin a satchel full of newspapers.

"Hey there, remember me!?"

She turned her head toward Rhoda and before she could say or do anything she crashed into some trashcans resulting in a loud crash noise. Rhoda ran over to her and helped her back on her feet.

"Are you okay? I am so sorry."

She was a little bruised on her left arm, left leg, and a little bit of her face "Don't worry, this is nothing I get much worse in baseball, cross country, football, and a couple more." Rhoda wasn't sure whether to be confused about that comment or grateful that she was fine "hey aren't you that girl I met yesterday? Umm...Ronny, right?"

"Well actually it's Rhoda, but you were close" she stated understandingly. She looked back at her and asked "Do you know where Clare is? Umm it is Clare right?"

She looked at Rhoda with understanding eyes and announced "Actually it's Clara, but you were close, too." They both suddenly began to giggle at the fact they both forgot names they just learned yesterday. She then gasped, realizing something "Oh yeah I forgot my name is Mariah Hobson." She announced reaching for her hand and then shaking it.

Rhode said "Nice to me you, Mariah."

She then turned serious and spoke "Also a little warning about me!" Rhoda became a little worried but calmed when Mariah smiled and enthusiastically said "I have been know to be a little energetic."

Rhoda looked both ways without moving her head and slowly nodded while saying "I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh yeah and also as for where Clara is-" she waved her hand to let her know come closer "I not only know where she live. I know where everyone lives." She was starting to creep Rhoda out a little bit "That knowledge comes with being a News PaperBoy or in this case News PaperGirl." She began to laugh hysterically.

And now I know what she meant by energetic.

also how was that supposed to be funny.

"Any who. Do you know where she live because I need to apologize and return this." She brought out the baseball which surprised Mariah.

She looked a little excited then worried and then excited. Her emotional feel for after she show the ball kept changing. Basically this repeated for a few minutes. The next thing she did was some kind of cartoonish dance. Her knees were bending up and down while her feet remained in place and her elbows bended too.

Once again this is kind of awkward.

now I really know what you meant.

Seriously how can someone be this energetic.

Rhoda attempted to calm her down "Umm...maybe you should sit down or something?"

Mariah stopped dancing and sudden crimson filled her face "Oh sorry I like to dance like that when I get excited." she began to grin widely "Were you in his house?"

"Do you mean The Neighbor's house? if so then yes."

She made and ear shattering squeal at this response.

Rhoda screamed while covering her ears "Can you lower your volume? PLEASE!

She stopped, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her like a ragdoll. She also asked "What does his house look like on the inside,? Is there anyone else inside,? And did you see my toy Tank that smashed through his third floor window?"

She answered each question as if she were about to vomit but didn't "Fi-first, the inside l-looks like a Normal house. Sec...ond, I think he's a slight-ly-ly strange hermit. And Third no and how-ow did your toy ta-nk-nk find its wa-way up there."

"Umm I wanted to see if it could fly." She then hid her embarrassment with her hand and continued "well, let's just say if you have a catapult never point it in the direction of the Neighbor's house."

"Okay, that sounds like an interesting story but can you tell where Clara is so I can give this-" she showed her the baseball again to help her remember "back to her?"

"Oh, right" she pointed to a house down the street "She lives right over there.

Rhoda thanked her and began to walk over to Clara's house. What she wasn't expecting was Mariah to follow her.

"I like you so I'm going to stay with you for a while." She said as she walked closer and closer to her.

"But what about your job?" Rhoda said trying to regain her personal space.

"That! pfft, I was already done." She said pulling her even more closer to whisper "I just like to deliver to the same places twice."

-OOOOO-

They found themselves in front of a orange painted house. it was a little bigger than Rhoda's home, only this one was colored differently and did not have a second floor. Also the lawn had a log decorated to look like a fairy home that had lawn gnomes standing guard, two of broken, and the rest were sort of eerie like they were watching with a cute smile.

They both were staring at the blue door.

Rhoda reached for the doorbell, but Mariah beat her to it and proceeded to repeatedly push the button, getting a loud ding from each push. Rhoda grabbed her arm with her left hand but that didn't stop her, so she included her right one. Finally she stopped pushing the button.

"Why would you push it that many time? Why?" She asked in a slight upset tone.

Mariah looked at her strangely and announced "Because it's fun!"

The door slowly open inwardly. but before it could open completely a slightly irritated voice came through "Nice of you to drop by Mariah Hobson." And a man in a blue suit stood inside when the door completely opened up. He look at the two and then said "and friend?"

"How did you know that it was her at the door?" Rhoda questioned, pointing at Mariah for emphasis.

He looked at her and directly answered "That's easy. I only know one person who would ring a doorbell 'EXACTLY' thirty-one times." He cross his arm and shook his head disapprovingly at Mariah "You really should change your definition of fun to annoying." He told sarcastically.

She began to laugh hysterically at what he said. Apparently what he said was so funny to her she literally laughed until she collapsed to the square brick path. Once on her back she acts as if she's having a fit or something.

Rhoda didn't understand what was happening. She inconspicuously leaned next to the man to ask without Mariah hearing "Umm...I don't get what's so funny, can you please explain?"

His response was a simple but quiet "I'm not really sure, but she sure does but won-." he quickly paused when he finally realized something "Oh, I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

"I'm Rhoda, Rhoda Gustus. Yours?"

He smiled and brought his hand out for a handshake "Nice to meet you Rhoda, I'm Howard Bishop."

She accepted his offer and shook his hand, so did Mariah who might have gone too far with the handshake, again. Rhoda once again attempted to calm her excitement for Mr. Bishop's sake.

Soon the handshake had ended

"Thank you." He whisper to Rhoda.

"No problem." She whispered "I was in your situation not long ago, any who can I see Clara." She asked.

He turned back to the inside and yelled "Umm...Sweetie there are some girls at the door who want to see you."

The hear voice from inside yelled in frustration "Stop calling me that!" Then the voice became normal "Who is it!?"

He replied loudly "Mariah and Rhoda!"

There was no response.

"Umm...Sweetie, did you hear me?"

"TELL THEM TO GO AWAY!" She screamed in fury, resulting in every jumping in surprise and fear.

Is she still mad about yesterday.

All I did was lose a ball.

And I got it back.

"Sweetie, come over here and apologize." He asked in a kind, demanding tone.

After a short while footsteps were heard. Then Clara entered the first hall and gave Rhoda a stare of hatred.

"Fine, I..." she mumblesd the rest.

"What?" Her father asked

"I'm s..." she spoke slightly louder.

"Couldn't quite catch that, dear." It was a slight improvement from her current nickname. He brought his hand to his ear to hear better.

"I'm sorry, okay!?" She exclaimed insincerely.

He looked at her for a moment before announcing "Close enough." He asked Rhoda "Umm...do you want me to hear what you have to say or shou..."

"Dad, I. T. H. N" She said coldly.

He looked smiled in a way that seemed like he was trying to hide his real emotions. He nodded his head, agreeing to something and returned inside his house. Once he closed the door loud sobs could instantly be heard.

Rhoda was completely confused of what just happened. She wanted to ask what just happened but wasn't sure if dhe should.

"If you're wondering," Mariah whispered "Clara loves her dad, but not when he gets involved in her life. And he's just trying to be there for her."

Rhoda was completely impressed, she didn't think she could remain this calm for this long.

Clara gave both of them an eerie feel when she turned to look at them "Well, Ms. Loose-My-Ball" she began harshly "What brings you here."

Before she could speak, Mariah jumped in "SHE WENT INTO THE Neighbor's HOUSE AND GOT BACK THIS BALL!" She said loud and eccentrically, and brought out the baseball that was in Rhoda's backpack.

Which Rhoda checked because she was not sure how she obtained it without her knowing.

Clara's only response could be shock. She just snatched it from Mariah's grasp and examined it "You actually went in his house?"

Why does everyone get excited about that?

"I don't know?"

They both looked her with confusion.

"Don't know what?" Asked Clara.

"Why we all get excited about you going into the Neighbor's house?" Rhoda turned pale and took one step away from her.

She thanked the spooked Rhoda before asking "Did you find my butterfly kite while you were there?" Rhoda stared at her for a moment "What? it was my favorite."

-OOOOO-

The trio walked together until they found themselves in front of the massively strange house. They stared at the home until the Neighbor came outside hold a trash bag. They looked away when he reached the trash can on the sidewalk.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Rhoda?" Clara asked concerned. Before Rhoda could answer she also mentioned "And how did you talk us into this again?"

She said "Actually it was Mariah who talked me into it."

-OOOOO-

Ten minutess earlier before walking to the Neighbor's house.

"Can you go back inside and find my toy tank, I mean I would look for it myself but I got a restraining order for blah blah blah." She kept blabbering on and on. Her voice growing more and more annoying with each word.

After a couple of minutes Rhoda gave in, covered her mouth with her right hand, and said just to stop her "Alright, fine I'll look for your toy tank. And her kite."

Clara, who has her headphones on, looked at the two, with wondering eyes because she wasn't paying attention to them.

-OOOOO-

"So that's what you were talking about?" Clara said "I thought you were talking about what you wanted to be in future?"

Rhoda ignored the comment.

"DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?" Mariah asked unable to contain her excitement.

"Alright,so here's my plan I'm going to the front door."

Mariah nodded "Uh huh."

"Ring the door bell."

"YES!?" Mariah begging her to continue.

"And ask if we can have our stuff back?"

She looked disappointed "That won't work, everyone who has lost something in his yard tried that and it never works."

Clara added honestly but coldly "It's true that never works."

Even with that knowledge she proceeded with her plan. She walked over to him. Before the Neighbor could go back inside he turned and saw her approaching.

Oh no. not you again.

Please don't come over here.

And your heading over here.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of my house?"

"Yes, but I'm not in your house," She said "We're outside."

She had a point. He got a little upset with her smart remark, but quickly calmed. He closed the lid of the trash can "What do you want?"

"Can I ask for my friends' kite and toy tank back? please?." She said with a hopeful grin.

He smiled and said without an ounce of hesitation "No."

Her smile began to fade "Why not? After all it's not yours."

He pointed to the front gate. Eye brows furrowed and spoke slowly "Stay. Out. Of. My. House. AND! Yard." He waited for her to leave before he brought out an envelope that he received yesterday.

The sender was unknown and the return address was scratched out. He gave it one last, angry look before he tossed it with the rest of his trash.

He headed toward his front door, when he stopped at the sight of a manikin standing from inside the garage and facing outside. his eye began to twitch. He turned red, he just snapped, grabbed a nearby cardboard box. With two hands he threw it at the manikin knocking it down. Then proceeded inside.

The trio just watched what has just transpired.

Clara was the one who broke the awkward silence "Did he just rage at a giant doll?"

A new voice came from behind "Actually, it's a manikin." Munching could also be heard from behind. Everyone turned and it was the kid who wore the bow tie.

Clara turned to the oddly dressed boy and corrected "I know that, Samuels. You should know I do." He afterward took another handful of potato chips from the bag, and he was holding and ate them.

He gave her an smile and continued "I know, I just love taking any opportunity I can to correct someone." He brought out one newspaper "Mariah, you only delivered to my house once. I thought something might have happened to you, so I came to check."

Mariah grabbed Rhoda "Sorry for the concern. I was simply showing our new neighbor where Clara lived so that she could return this ball!" She held out the same baseball from earlier, again. Which astonished Clara and Rhoda.

Seriously how do you keep doing that?

Because I'm pretty sure we left that at Clara's house.

"Hold on, does that mean you were at the Neighbor's house?" Samuels asked.

Rhoda rolled her eyes "This is getting old," She said "but yes."

"What does the inside of his house look like." He asked "I tried to find out myself, but he has a very good firewall."

Everyone looked at him inquisitively, unsure of what he meant by that.

He returned the look back "What?" He then checked around the area "Umm...where's Rhoda?"

They were too busy wondering what he meant by that they have failed to realize that Rhoda was gone. So they decided to search the block until they find her. Which didn't take very long for they saw her. She was entering the Neighbor's house through an open window.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda found herself in a brightly lit bedroom with a bed that was very tall, a panting of the Neighbor and some other guy, an orange and blue colored rug, a brown closet, and couple of other items.

Okay if I were a kite where would I be?

She looked around the room but didn't find a butterfly kite, nor a toy tank.

She decided to try her luck in another room. She proceeded toward the only door out of the room. However, before she could do anything she heard T.V staftic on the other side, she leaned her head on the door and heard correctly.

She cautiously opened the door just enough to see out, but enough to remain undetected. She saw the Neighbor sitting in a couch in the living room, he was eating a plate of fried chicken with a carton of milk on the side. Whatever he was watching caused him to laugh hysterically, almost choking on a piece of chicken in his mouth.

There was no way to proceed any further without being noticed. She had no other options.

Suddenly the power just went out. She was surprised. So was the Neighbor for he just stopped everything, got up, and left furiously out of the room.

Rhoda took her opportunity and continued her quest for her new friends stuff.

-OOOOO-

She explored until she found herself in another bedroom that was similar to the other, only the bed was normal. when Rhoda checked the inside of an open closet she found a box that contained a box. She opened it and found an old butterfly kite, missing a little of its right wing.

Mission accomplished.

Time to head back.

Her victory was short lived when the lights came back. A loud, obnoxious alarm repeated over and over. She looked above one of the two doors in the room, and saw security monitor.

Footstep could instantly be heard, heading towards her location. She had moments to do something, so she just rushed her self into the double door closet and shut the door.

just like that the Neighbor was in the room. He looked at the buzzing monitor to make sure it was the right room. Once he was sure he searched the room for a possible intruder. He checked under the bed; nothing was there, then headed over to the closet.

Rhoda was buzzing with fear of getting caught again. Although it was overcomed by her curiosity of some symbols on the inside of the closet. There were four squares parallel on each side, and between each square a plus sign.

The first square was filled in with blue paint and equals to a yellow square, the second was green and equals to the blue square, the yellow equals purple, and purple equals green.

This confused her. He finally reached the closet and turned the knob, however it didn't open.

Locked, huh?

"I know I have a key here somewhere?" He murmured almost inaudibly.

Then a ringing noise came from outside the house. The Neighbor got angrier and smashed through his window screaming "I'll find you! You can't hide forever!"

Rhoda relaxed a little knowing she had more time to find a way out of her situation.

It seemed like her efforts were useless for the door wouldn't budge even a little. She almost gave up if the most unpredictable thing didn't happen, the door into the room creaked as it opened.

"Hello, anyone here?"

Rhoda immediately recognized the voice "Mariah don't come any further, there's some kind of motion camera in here? So if it spots you the Neighbor will know you're here, too." She warned.

"Got it, also where are you? Because I hear you, but I can't see you, so can you tell me where you are, because I can't rescue you if I blah, blah, blah..." she began ranting annoyingly, again.

"I'M IN THE CLOSEST!" She couldn't take the chatter anymore "OKAY!?"

She hear almost completely inaudible static and Mariah speak "Hey, guys! I found Rhoda, She in...Trapped in the closet." She her low voice response she couldn't understand "Can you do something about security cameras, please." She said into a walkie talkie.

On cue the lights went out and so did the camera. If Rhoda weren't trapped in a closet, she would have noticed the power go out.

"Wait, you need a key first; he said there's one in the room somewhere?"

The sound of ransacking could be heard throughout the room. After less than a minute the door was unlocked, and Rhoda was free as a bird. She exited with the box in her hand. "Thank yo..." she paused at the sight of the room. What was once an ordinary looking room, was now what could only be described as some sort of war zone "What did you do?"

Mariah grabbed her arm, dragging her through the shattered window while saying "Let's just go."

-OOOOO-

Earlier, outside Clara, Mariah, and Samuels stood outside the house, trying to conceive an idea to get Rhoda out, without the Neighbor knowing she was there at all.

"I got it, Mariah, you take this walkie talkie and when I say go; look for Rhoda seeing as your the fastest here," He handed a walkie talkie to Mariah "And Clara can you Lookout for the Neighbor while I work some hacker magic."

They both asked before agreeing "Wait, your a hacker?"

"Yes, I am. Why do you think that I know you are..." he whispered the rest in Clara's ear.

She became more furious than she had ever became before and punched a tooth out of his mouth "Don't tell anybody that or I will do worse next time, got it?" She said with fire in her eyes. He instantly and fearfully nodded in agreement.

Even after that they proceeded with his plan. Clara followed him to the side of the house. Once there they find a fusebox protected by a digital padlock. He immediately got to work and Clara just kept watch. A few moments later and the lock was removed exposing a switch. Within seconds he pulled on it and the power was cut from the whole house. And for extra insurance he put some kind of strange deviceon the fuse box.

They hid in the bushes before the Neighbor could catch them. He attempted to restart the power when all of a sudden the fuse box caught fire.

Clara looked at Samuels and asked "Is that what that thing does?"

"To be honest, it was only supposed to delay the power returning by fifteen minutes, the fire was just a bonus." He brought out his walkie talkie "Mariah, you may enter the house.

After a couple of minutes, he finally extinguished the flames and restored the power. An alarm sound came from inside and he rushed back inside.

"Mariah, be careful he's going back inside." He alerted Mariah.

She responded "I haven't found her yet." She paused for a moment "I am under a table."

"Okay...we'll just figure something out."

"Can't you just shut off the power again?" Clara announced.

He pointed to the fuse box that now had a normal padlock.

Clara sighed and mumbled something, she brought out a box with a wind up key attached. She began to wind it up. And once it reached its winding limit she threw it at the front door. A minute later it made a loud ringing noise.

She pushed him aside, brought out a bobby pin, and began to pick at the lock.

Samuels, received a request from Mariah to do something about a surveillance camera.

Clara, had already detached the padlock and shut the power at this time.

He look at her nervously "You worry me sometimes." She gave him an "what did you just say?" look. He quickly responded "Never mind!"

moments later they all met back at the sidewalk. They all gave Rhoda a worried look.

"What were you think?" Samuels asked.

"Yeah, who knows what would have happened to you?" Clara said.

"He has good taste in pie, and also are you okay." Mariah, said as she took a bite at piece of cherry pie.

She smiled at them, which confused them, She answered "Mission accomplished." As she presented the box containing a butterfly kite. Which Clara snatched from her with glee.

They sighed with relief knowing she was fine.

Mariah, was a tad upset "What about my toy tank?"

Before another word could be said the Neighbor came out yelling "Stay away from my house!" They all ran back to there homes.

Why can't people stay away from my house?

Is that so much to ask for?

-OOOOO-

Rhoda was now back in her comfortable room. Where she was redrawing the symbols she found while she was trapped in that closet.

I feel like I should remember this.

And there we go.

Now I'll have it when I need it.

She put the the note pad away in her backpack, ending her little adventure she had today.

* * *

I don't know a lot about how hacking works so if that part doesn't make sense, I'm sorry. Remember, if you notice anything wrong I'm open to suggestions.


	3. Chapter 3

What's in your basement?

Chapter three: The cuckoo clock code.

* * *

As the afternoon approached, Rhoda stood at the empty lot waiting for Samuels, an expert hacker; Clara, a girl who you never want to mess with, seriously; and Mariah, a peculiar wildcard. After a while they finally arrived.

Rhoda yelled in excitement "Hello! Over here!" Waving her left arm. They walked towards her.

Samuels was using an iPhone.

Mariah looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing and yelled in disgust "Is that really what they put in the hotdogs at that diner downtown? eww, they should shut it down?"

"Mariah as much as I love your company, please can I have some space?" He asked kindly, followed by a light chuckle.

Just like that she took a sudden two steps back.

"Okay...so what do you have planned for today?" Clara asked everyone.

Samuels said "Well, I plan on finding a way to tell the police, why they should shut down that diner downtown, without confessing that I'm a hacker. He showed them his phone screen. They were revolted by what was used in the diner's food.

Mariah handed them a brown paper bag. They looked at the bag and then at Mariah, she rolled her eyes and spoke "To throw up in." She brought out another paper bag only these ones have a flower design instead "Or do you prefer these bags?"

Rhoda was the first and only one willing to ask "Why do you have paper bags with you?"

she simply shrugged "You never know when you need one."

She was correct because while they were talking Clara, who was turning green, was using her bag. She afterwards proceeded to search for a trash can to dispose of the bag's contents.

She soon returned "Remind me to never, EVER eat there, again" she exclaimed.

They nodded their head to indicate that they agree.

Mariah then continued "I plan on helping you find my toy tank." She gave the widest grin imaginable.

Rhoda just said "Okay...so does anyone else want to help?"

Samuels was the first to answer "Sure, I don't really have much to do."

Clara quickly recovered from being grossed out "But didn't you just say you had something to do?" She said sickly.

"Yeah I did, but let's just say that 'Mr. Henna' reported the health code violations via untraceable email." He used air quotes on the name.

Mariah said "You mean my seventh grade math teacher?" He nodded yes "He always did an awful job at teaching but I still liked him, I mean sure he fell asleep in his own class but nonetheless blah blah blah." She continued on for about a few irritating minutes

With everyone's schedule clear, and curiosity getting the best of them; also the desire to retrieve a toy tank that was catapulted at the Neighbor's house, they will once again attempt to uncover the mysteries of the Neighbor's house.

-OOOOO-

They returned to the only bizarre-looking house in the whole neighborhood. The Neighbor could be seen doing some stretches on the front lawn.

He finished several minutes later, and headed back inside the odd house, a strange thing to note was that he had boarded up all the ground floor windows. Also there was now a security camera above the front door.

When did he even have time to do all this

And how did he do all this?

without making a single sound too?

"Wow. He obviously didn't want us wandering around his house did he?" Mariah said "Which I guess would make sense because we did cut the power, almost caused a fire, cut the power again, destroyed one of his ro..." She would have continued, but Clara stopped her before she could continue with her hand.

"Was that necessary? I am pretty sure she was about to finish." Samuels said.

She was about to answer, when things took a serious turn for weird, Mariah regained the power of speech by biting Clara's hand. Once Clara's pain subsides she gives the angriest glare possible, and begins to chase Mariah.

They run around in circles for about five minutes before Clara ends up chasing nothing, and Mariah watches from Samuels left side, a bag of popcorn in her hand.

"Umm...where did you get the popcorn?" Asked Samuels, who was still wonder how long before Clara realizes that she's chasing nothing.

Mariah takes one more handful of delicious popcorn before announcing "That is funny a story because while being chased, I sa-"

"Hey! You tricked me" Clara exclaimed as she walked over to Mariah. She did not look too happy but her expression changed. "Well, played. BUT DON'T BITE MY HAND EVER, AGAIN!" She screamed at an ear shattering level.

Mariah gave a salute, as if she was speaking to a general, and said "Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

Rhoda made sure everyone stopped talking before she asked "Okay...well with that out of the way who has a plan to get in this time."

Before anyone could start thinking, Samuels spoke "I got one."

"Does it involve the fuse box?" Rhoda asked.

He nodded his head, yes.

Rhoda pointed toward the only flaw with his plan. There were several bear traps surrounding the Side fuse box.

"I have no ideas" he announced to everyone."

Mariah was frantically raising her hand, desperately trying to get everyone's attention.

"what is your plan?" He asked, with a strange look on his face.

"Dude, are you having a allergy attack or something?" Clara whispered.

"NO!" He said defensively "And since when have you ever said 'dude'?"

Clara ignored his question and turned back to Mariah, waiting for her to announce her most likely bad idea.

"Trust me this plan is 500% fool proof, there is absolutely no way this can go wrong!" She said over confidently.

"Can you tell us your plan?" Samuels questioned.

She smiled and performed her cartoon dance which is an indication that she's excited "I will get my toy tank back!" And walked over to the Neighbor's front door. Not realizing that she did not fill her friends in on any part of her plan.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor could be seen sitting on the chair in the kitchen, staring aimlessly at nothing.

I wonder if I can keep this up?

Eventually someone else will find out?

No!

As long as I live I wil-.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a door bell being rung thirty-one times . He jumped and rushed to the locked door, removed the lock with a key in his hand, and opened the door to find Mariah standing there with a cup in her hand.

"Hello, my dear neighbor would you perhaps like to borrow a cup of sugar from me?"

He was highly suspicious, confused, and most of all confused "A: shouldn't it be the other way around. B: don't I HAVE A RESTRAINING ORDER ON YOU!" He stated.

She smiled oddly at him "Oh yeah I forgot about that." and made a battle cry. This surprised him but not as much as her throwing the sugar in his face.

He was screaming in agony "My eyes!? My eyes!?" Licks his face "This isn't sugar! What is this! Why!? He temporarily lost his sight.

"Your guess is as good as mine." She said "Come on while he's distracted!" She told to the others.

They did as told and entered during the painful distraction. Paying no mind to what has transpired.

-OOOOO-

Everyone entered the home and began to search while the Neighbor attempted to quickly recover from his painful blindness. Soon they found that they have explored the first floor rather quickly.

They met back in the living room, paying no mind to the still distracted neighbor. He was flailing his arms trying to catch one of the intruders. Once together they all suggest the same idea: explore the second floor.

However before they could ascend the stairs, the Neighbor, who was very ticked off, recovered from his blindness "WHERE ARE YOU!" He cried out.

Before the others could say a word, Mariah cried in panic "SCATTER!" She ran out of the room quickly fading from view.

The others also did the same.

Samuels followed the direction Mariah took.

Clara went up the stairs only to walk back down "He Has A Shark?" So she just ran pass the Neighbor, avoiding capture, and sprinted down the hall.

Rhoda attempted to escape through the door that led to a bedroom but it was locked, she quickly noticed that she was cornered by the Neighbor for he was blocking the only way out.

"By any chance will you let me go if I give you another twenty?" She asked hopefully.

He clearly wasn't going to accept her offer. She quickly thought of a way out. She pointed at the window and made a high pitched screech.

The Neighbor looked at the window trying to figure out what was there. He saw nothing so he looked back at Rhoda only to find nothing. His eye began to twitch irritably.

-OOOOO-

Mariah and Samuels dashed through the hall until they made a turn towards one of the many open rooms. Once inside Mariah closes and locks the door.

"Quick question why did we run in here?" Samuels asked Mariah.

Mariah turned her head toward Samuels with a disturbing smile and said "Because who would think to find us here?"

He gave her a "Seriously" look, and stated "What makes you think no one will look for us in the bathroom?"

"Because all we have to do is lock the door and no one will come in."

"What's stopping him from coming in?" Asked Samuels.

Mariah answer excitingly and surprised "Would you enter a bathroom that's locked?"

He admitted defeat, knowing he won't win this argument, so he simply stated "No."

Mariah smiled and just stood in triumph, which was short lived after someone outside attempted to open the bathroom door.

Mariah said swiftly "This bathroom is occupied." She said said the next bit eccentrically "SO PLEASE WAIT!" she turned to Samuels and gave him a "this plan will work" thumbs up. He just looked at her disapprovingly.

A sincere sounding voice asked "But what if I have to go?"

Mariah's confidence died as the "one" flaw she didn't count for was met. Someone needing to use the bathroom, she brought her ear to the door and asked "Prove that you need to go" she brought three fingers to Samuel's view "How many fingers am I holding up?"

He answered in an annoyed tone "I don't know...umm...three?

Her face turned relieved and she began to unlock the door "Alright, but after your done get out so me and Samuels can hide in here, again."

The Neighbor wasted no time and opened the door with a furious look on his face, most of his fury was aimed towards Mariah for a few reasons "You are going to regret that!"

She questioned "Regret what? Breaking into your house, throwing strange powder in your eyes, opening the door, or believing your trick?"

His eye twitched, he exclaimed in rage "Everything!" He charged at her so she reached for the closest thing, a bottle of something, and splashed it in his eyes "WHY!" He screamed in agony.

She examined the bottle that read shampoo; unfortunately it didn't read tear free.

She took a few steps backwards to whisper to Samuels "We should sneak away while we still can." He agreed so they tiptoed pass the Neighbor. They were almost out of the room when out of nowhere Mariah screams "RUNAWAY."

Which caught everyone's attention. Samuels followed Mariah out of danger, frustrated that she did the opposite of "sneak away" to safety.

Why did you do that?

Oh well.

I guess we're okay.

So why should I worry.

"That's right Samuels; always think on the bright side."

Samuels turned pail for a moment at the fact that she knew what he was thinking. Nonetheless he just carried on and ignored his worrisome feelings.

-OOOOO-

Clara made a run for a small broom closet. She opened the door only for a pail of water, hanging above the door to fall on her head.

Didn't we check this room?

Because I'm pretty sure this wasn't here.

Great this stupid bucket is stuck on my head.

The red pail was practically glued to her head. The more she tried to pull it off the more pointless it would seem. She decided to just give up. She felt for the door knob, once it was found she closed it, and locked it or at least she thinks she did.

She leaned against the wall, awaiting for what will happen next. Though she wasn't known for patience so she once more tried to remove the bucket from her head just to pass the time.

For the next few minutes she tried and continued with no progress to get the red bucket of her head. Her struggling could be heard from all nearby rooms.

As she continued she could hear the door open. Her first and only reaction was to punch and kick the stranger. So that's what she did.

However the mouns of agony belonged to Samuels "Why...Did...You...Do...that? He squealed before collapsing to the ground.

Clara realized her mistake and sort of apologized in a way "I'm so sor...sorr...so...sorry."

Samuels appreciated the apology "The fact you said...that with...out your dad telling you, makes it...more sincere." He was still in a lot of pain.

"Umm...when you get the time can you." She asked nicely "GET THIS STUPID BUCKET OF MY HEAD?" Then demandingly.

At the same time Mariah snuck up behind her and pulled it off without hesitation or resistance.

Clara was both grateful and confused. What took her several minutes to try and fail; took Mariah less than five seconds.

"How?" Clara asked her with desperation.

Mariah responded "I just pulled the it off." She put it back on her head and pulled it off "like that." She finished.

Clara was still confused.

They heard footsteps approaching from the hall outside, they look out to find the Neighbor. He spotted them, charged in fury, still furious at Mariah, but they closed the door on time.

Samuels locked the door hastily "So what do we do now?" He asked, there was no other way out.

They both agreed "I don't know." They answered in mostly perfect unison.

-OOOOO-

Earlier Rhoda found herself hiding in some kind of workshop with saw dust covering the floor and a tool bench in the middle of the room. She closed the door behind silently, locking securely, and just staying as quiet as possible.

She waited and waited but so far it appeared that she lost the Neighbor, a loud cuckoo noise came from her left side, which caused her to turn in surprise. It was a cuckoo clock resembling her house.

The bird popped out of the tiny window and she could see clearly that on the beak was a small blue key. After the time changed from 2:00PM to 2:01AM it returned inside the cuckoo clock.

She walked towards the cuckoo clock and proceeded to turn the hands another hour. The bird popped out again and nothing happened interesting happened.

However her eyes caught the sight of a small button blending into the background of the clock. Curious so she pushed hidden button, she was expecting something to happen, once again nothing happened.

In this room anyways.

-OOOOO-

Samuels, Mariah, and Clara stood in the closet in completely awkward silence.

Finally, Mariah offered something for them all to do "Let's play truth or dare!" She said eccentrically.

Clara attempted to deny her awful idea "No offense, but Samuels sucks at this game. He always finds a way to get out of the question.

"No I do not!" He retaliated.

"Okay...then pick one."

He chose something he thought would be easy to agree to "Truth."

"Okay...first off: good choice because I was going to dare you to step on that bear trap there," she pointed to a bear trap on the floor, he was very relieved, Clara then said eerily "second: have you ever had a crush on anyone?"

"Umm...maybe." He actually did.

Mariah asked repeatedly "Who? Who? Who? Who?"

He began to blush and quickly said "Listen I think the Neighbor is gone?" He walked over and pressed his ear to the door, avoiding the question.

Clara rolled her eyes "I knew he would back out."

They immediately heard a loud rumbling noise, they looked at one of the walls and a secret elevator door opened up. They went inside.

Samuels hastily pushed the second floor button. Within moments they were rising to the next floor.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda turned the hand another hour and a yellow key popped out. She quickly snatched it from the birds beak. She turned the hand again, anothing happened again. She turned the hand another time and a green key came out.

After a while she acquired four keys; one purple, one blue, one yellow, and one green.

What do these unlock?

I'll find out soon enough.

Or not.

She decided that it was safe enough to leave and left the room.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor was still waiting outside the closet for them to leave, growing more impatient with every passing minute "That's it I going to look for the other kid!"

He searched for a while and almost gave up, then Rhoda was spotted down the hall. Soon they were once again running. Rhoda ran throughout the first floor trying to evade capture, she knocked down a couple pieces of furniture every now and then to slow her pursuer.

They were basically running around the same route over and over again for a while. The Neighbor caught on to this pattern and made a turn to cut her off.

Rhoda looked behind her to find no one there. She was relieved for a short moment. until she looked forward and saw the Neighbor in front of her.

She had only moments to react. So she absent mindfully turned to an open room; it was the same closet her friends hid in earlier. The elevator was still open so without a second thought she went in and ascended upstairs.

The Neighbor was too late to prevent this action, he exclaims in frustration "NO!"

-OOOOO-

As soon the doors opened she found her friends trying to open three doors that hopefully lead out of the dimly-lit room. This was due to the fact that the ceiling light was missing a lightbulb. They saw Rhoda exit the elevator and they repeatedly yelled in panic "Don't let it close!" Mariah emphasized this more. Rhoda was too late to do anything for the elevator closed on its self and would not reopen.

Samuels announced sadly "Apparently, the elevator automatically closes after everyone exits and will not open again."

Clara interjected "Because there Is no way to reopen it." She was right, there was no elevator control panel anywhere "And something on the other side of each door is keeping it close."

Rhoda said just to clarify "Okay so let me get this straight: we are trapped in this room?"

They nodded yes.

They were trapped in one of the Neighbor's rooms on the second floor, the Neighbor could be coming for them at any moment, and worst of all Mariah was acting extra strangely; probably due to her cleithrophobia And everyone, except Rhoda, knew that Mariah can be extra exhausting when she was in this state.

Clara asked worriedly "Any ideas, anyone? Seriously ANYONE!?"

* * *

Hope you liked this and remember if anything is wrong, please let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

What's in your basement?

Chapter four: Unexpected traps.

* * *

They all continued to look for a way out of the dark room. Except samuels who was trying to keep Mariah as calm as possible, so she doesn't run around in a panic which she did earlier. However they couldn't explain how she managed to walk on the ceiling even for a few seconds.

Rhoda asked Samuels "Is she getting better?"

"So far she's not trying to climb the walls again." he said but whisper the rest "But she is talking in gibberish ...should we be worried?"

Mariah then brought out a paper bag and starts taking deep breaths into one of her emergency paper bags. Afterwards continued her gibberish chatting.

Clara, still trying to charge at the door to open it, says "That's it, I give up." She stopped trying and sat down.

Everyone at that point finally decided there was no way out. There were no open door and the elevator wouldn't come back so it seemed hopeless to continue trying.

Soon the elevator opened up again, getting everyone's hopes up, until they saw the Neighbor inside. He was clearly still furious with the four intruders

He left the elevator, immediately getting a reaction from everyone, who were trying to keep the door open.

They failed and they were all trapped together.

He turned around and looked at them all seriously "Let me guess we're trapped aren't we?"

All of them, except Mariah, said at the same time "yes!"

He looked around and asked "So...is there a switch on the ceiling?" They looked up and there was a switch on ceiling "good now does anyone have anything to throw at it.

They checked their pockets and around the room only to find one cardboard box. He threw it directly at the switch only for nothing to happen. So he tried this again, but missed, getting more frustrated he tried once more.

Mariah began to shake, Samuels noticed trying to keep her from doing something insane. He failed for she began running around in circles, screaming something in gibberish, she brought out a mini anvil, out of nowhere and threw it, nearly hitting the Neighbor, and knocked one of the doors down; it was boarded up on the other side. She exclaimed in excitement "FREEDOM!" She was the first to exit.

They were all surprised, relieved, and maybe a little afraid. Nonetheless the hurried out of the room.

The Neighbor, still holding the cardboard box was slightly traumatized by almost getting hit with an anvil "I-I cou-could of d..." he quickly broke out of his trance and remembered that their are intruders loose on his second floor.

-OOOOO-

They proceeded to trek down to unknown, search In for Mariah who strayed too far from everyone. Unlike the room they were trapped in the hall was very brightly lit, almost blinding.

Clara just screamed "How did we loose her!?" She thought for a moment " No! How did you lose her!?" She stared at Samuels.

"I don't know? I mean, ME!? He said defensively "Why are you blaming me?"

"Because, oh I don't know, you were the one watching her." She hissed. They have been free for nearly three minutes and already they lost someone.

-OOOOO-

Mariah was now calm in a way, walking down a hall with green wallpaper with a baby duck design. After what felt like a short, actually a four minute walk, she spotted a door down the hall with a sign that read "toy room" which brought a wide grin to her face.

Toy room?

My toy tank must be in there.

She said in a cheerfully loud tone "Hurray!"

She immediately charged for the door. Knocking down all five pieces of furniture in that hall.

In almost no time at all Rhoda and the others, with the help of a loud "Hurray!" found Mariah down the hall entering one of the rooms. They walked over only for surprise to scream in fury, the Neighbor was nearing.

Samuels looked to his right side and without thinking, flipped the switch on the wall with a label that read "activate" unexpectedly, iron bars fell from above, obscuring the Neighbor's path completely "That worked out." He stated

They were all just relieved to have avoid conflict; this time.

So without wasting another second, they hurried to reunite with their eccentric friend.

-OOOOO-

They entered the room and found that Mariah was standing absolutely still next to a baby crib in the center of the room, an old, broken toy tank in her hand. The walls were covered in my drawings made by kindergarteners, and two mannequins with strange glowing blue eyes and dressed like children, and on the walls a giant poster with a picture of one open blue eye and one closed eye, next to the open a standing stickman and the closed was a stickman running.

Mariah turned to face them, a happy and fearful expression on her face. As she quickly showed them her toy tank, then stops moving after.

Samuels warned everyone slowly "No. one. move." He was the second to figure out what trap was in this room.

Everyone did as told except Clara, who kept asking why. Soon the two mannequins' eyes glowed blue, they scanned the room and Clara flinch in surprise.

Clara screamed a little as they charged for her. She barely managed to evade them, however they were still after her.

"DO SOMETHING!" She begged desperately, still running in circles, trying to escape the moving mannequins.

Samuels reached into his pocket, stopping every now and then to avoid catching their attention. Eventually presenting a small device, he immediately took the first chance he got and swiftly attached it to one of them, it was deactivated.

There was only one left. And it was still pursuing Clara, who suddenly slipped on a bedtime story book.

The mannequin would have caught Clara If Mariah didn't do the most unexpected thing, she read aloud the bedtime story for all to hear. Which somehow caused the mannequin to short-circuit and shut down.

They all stared at her for a moment.

She rolled her eyes "What? if I was suddenly woken up, I would want someone to read me a story to help me sleep." She explained. That still didn't explain to them why it shut down.

Before they come continue this conversation the Neighbor entered, holding a broken lever in his rubber glove. He looked at them with vengeance, but quickly changed to worry. He ran over to a the two disabled mannequins and asked "Dale? Hellen? Are you alright? What have they done to you?"

During the embarrassing display, they made a break for the exit and left the room.

-OOOOO-

Nearly a minute or two of running later, they found another hall full of doors. They each decided to split up and see which room leads to their next clue.

Mariah open the first door, rushed in without thinking, and came out a minute later covered in snow. When they asked why, she said with chattering teeth "Glory to Arstotzka!" They had no clue what to make of that.

Rhoda walked over to the door she went through, when she looked inside it was just a normal book closet.

Samuels opened a different door. This time he walked in, and the door closed by itself.

Clara tried to open it but it was stuck. She knocked on the door "Samuels, are you okay?" There was no response.

-OOOOO-

They kept trying to open the door, but nothing would work. Soon the Neighbor came, looking angrier than usual. He was holding tightly in his hand the lever they used to block his path earlier.

"How dare you hurt the only roommates I actually liked!" He growled.

Before anyone did anything, Mariah, mostly thawed out, asked how do we open this door?" She pointed to the door Samuels was in.

The Neighbor looked at the door for a moment, than back at them.

Okay so one of them went in.

That's okay as long as they know what to do.

Wait where did they go?

He looked around and saw a trail of ice on the floor. He started to follow the trail until he saw the intruders, one of them being carried by the other two.

They saw that he was chasing after them so they ran faster. and when the reached a fork in the hall they went, in groups, and went their separate way.

One intruder was already irritating.

Why did it have to be four?

"Don't worry Neighbor, soon, there'll be about a few more..." Mariah, now unfrozen to the point that she can move, creepily answered "Or so I'm told." She added.

He stopped momentarily, frightened by how she knew what he was thinking about "Could she be...? No impossible. Unless." He questions to himself quietly, and then quickly remembered about the present. So he broke out of shock, he continued to search for the intruders, who got a head start.

-OOOOO-

Samuels found himself in some kind of gigantic grocery store; shelve reached the ceiling and the shoppers were mannequins pushing shopping carts.

He tried to leave through the way he came, but it wouldn't budge open. He then went towards an unoccupied shopping cart, full of groceries, standing on a rail. He looked at a sign hanging on the cart, on it was a picture of a stick man pushing the cart to the counter with an "exit" sign above.

It was then that he figured out what to do. Immediately, he began to push the cart to where ever the rail takes it.

All nearby mannequins began to move around, which made him stop, he brought out his disabling device just in case.

He saw on a tall empty shelf a sign that read "keep the line going!" After the mannequins began to move towards him, he kept pushing the cart and they instantly stopped following him and acted as if he weren't there.

He looked ahead of the rails and saw that he would need to stop, there were some crates, loose railings, and more in the way.

"This will not be easy." He said to himself, he continued to the end of the path, hoping to leave quickly.

-OOOOO-

In front of Clara and Rhoda stood some stairs, they only lead up.

"Should we go up?" Rhoda asked.

Clara suggested "Property losers first." She even bowed and extended her left hand, letting her know "you first."

"That happened only once." She said defensively.

"Fine, we'll both go at the same time."

Once they agreed, they put one foot each one the first step and a trap door opened, causing Clara to plunge back to the ground floor, while Rhoda managed to grip onto one of the rails of the stairs.

Clara could be heard screaming "WHO BUILT THIS STUPID HOUSE!" A loud thud echoed from the bottom of the dark trap "I'm okay, the pillows and mannequin broke my fall." She clarified meekly, groaning in pain, afterwards "I think I'm going to go home now"

"Okay, then bye." Rhoda yelled understandingly. She started to climb back up, and Immediately starts climbing up the stairs, watch her every step.

-OOOOO-

Mariah was in an empty room, with only one piece of decoration in it, a portrait of some skinny man with a white T-shirt with red sleeves with a beige plaid shirt over it and brown spiky hair. After a minute or three of standing, observing. She the pushed on the stranger's nose.

She walked into one of the corners and knocked on the wall three times. She then says aloud "My name is-"

A door swung open and the Neighbor yelled as she finished speaking "How did you know my name?" She simply said nothing.

A secret door opened, revealing another secret elevator, catching both of their attentions. She walked in and pushed the button to the third floor. He tried to stop her but slipped on a banana peel, and fell on his back to the floor.

"Bye Neighbor." She said waving, the doors finally finished closing.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda finally found her way to the third floor after dodging one or a couple of secret trap doors. As she finally relaxed, Samuels burst out of a green door, not hesitating to closie and lock it. He was clearly out of breath.

"I may never...visit...the grocery store...again." He huffed.

Mariah made a scene by dancing her way out of the elevator that opened up down the hall.

"So what did I miss?" Mariah asked, turned to Samuels and continued "what was in that room? Why did you lock it?" she turned towards Rhoda "why are their holes in the stairs, blah blah blah...?" the questioning went on for a whole about three minutes, her friend did their best to answer.

They eventually finished replying.

"Now that questions are out of the way, what now?" Rhoda, wanted to know.

Once more before anyone could speak, the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. They turned to the stairs as the Neighbor climbed up, avoiding all pressure plates on the steps.

They would have ran, but the elevator closed up and once again had no control panel and the only other way of escape was blocked by a door, this time they were cornered.

The Neighbor stared at the furiously "Alright you have been a nuisance long enough, it's time to put an end these ga-" he took a step back as Mariah wielded a some kind of gun in her hand "Woah...how about we put down the dangerous-"

She repeated the same battle cry from earlier, and fired two juggling balls. The Neighbor stumbled back and collapsed down the steps, falling down a trapdoor. His screams could be heard as he fell.

Samuels was the first to break out of their shock, saying in a relieved tone "For a second there, I thought that was real. Good trick." He gave her a pat on the back.

She smiled and laughed guiltily "Yeah, sure that was the plan."

Rhoda examined the door and said "Four locks on one door." She quickly remembered and brought out four different colored keys; the colors matched each lock. As she was about to try one of the keys Samuels grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her.

"WAIT! That's a U-GO Lock."

Rhoda was confused "A what?

"Seriously, they were like the best company; they turned everyday items into something better." He explained, in short detail of what U-GO Inc. was "So if you use the wrong key on the wrong lock it stays permanently locked, until a U-GO agent arrives to reset it."

"Can't you do your hacking thing and reset it if we fail?" Mariah intervened.

He responds "Its not that easy."

"Is it because these type of locks can only be reset by carefully removing three small screws, replacing the seven important gears that keep it functional, Blah Blah Blah?" Mariah explained in perfect detail of how to reset these locks, almost as if she made them herself.

Rhoda thought about this for a moment and remembered something from earlier. She brought out her note pad, from her backpack. Examining it to find the symbols, she drew still there.

She used this to place the keys in the right spots, one by one the locks came off.

Samuels and Mariah just watched in amazement, complimenting her on her success. They wasted no time and continued on their quest, to solve one of the mysteries of the Neighbor.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor impatiently waited, arms crossed, for the elevator to open up as he ascended to the third floor.

Why is this so slow?

By the time I'm there.

They'll have escaped to...

The doors opened up, determination to stop the intruders, and possibly get revenge on the one who shot him with a novelty gun, built up inside the Neighbor, he quickly got out. Rushing for where he suspects them to go.

Hoping they didn't get far, during his absence.

-OOOOO-

"Is that safe for a house to have? Rhoda asked rhetorically.

They enter a room missing a huge chunk of the wall, revealing a train track with a blue trolley on it. In front of it was a dusty control booth.

Mariah ran inside the booth, pushing and pulling random buttons and levers. Which was probably not very smart for a few reasons. But as a result of the the doors of the trolley opened up.

Everyone; except Mariah, who was still playing around in the control booth, cautiously wandered inside, it was just as dusty as the control booth. They looked and found a note that read "123/53/16/121/44/16/121 74/67?" They had no clue of what it meant.

During this moment of Mariah pushed the start button, the trolley doors closed, and slowly the it went.

Mariah ran out blurting out a bombardment of apologies, she looked to her right and pulled a secret lever disguised as a walled lamp. Another secret staircase opened and she climbed up them, escaping their view.

The Neighbor ran in and was looking at the tracks and the newly opened staircase; trying to decide who to follow. He decided to chase slower group, the ones on the trolley. He got on the rickety track, watching his step and continue the chase.

-OOOOO-

Samuels tried to pry open the door to the small control room of the trolley with his hands, he got it open and tried to turn the key only for it to snap off.

He looked at Rhoda with a guilty grin showing her the broken key "My bad." He confessed.

Rhoda looked back and saw the Neighbor running towards them "Uh oh." She murmured nervously.

A bump in the track causes Samuels to fall on and break a lever. Suddenly the trolley, stopped momentarily and slowly rolled backwards down.

The Neighbor panicked as it rolled towards him. He jumped off to avoid collision, grabbing the edge of a nearby balcony. He struggled but managed to climb back up safely.

The Trolley began to accelerate in speed. Rhoda and Samuels screamed and dramatically yelled what they never got to do at the same to do.

"I never got to become a detective."

"I never got to tell Mariah how I feel."

Rhoda stared at him for a moment. But before she speak a single word, they finally collided with the wall, crashing through a secret dark corridor.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this, also remember let me know if there's anything wrong and I'll fix it.


	5. Chapter 5

What's in your basement?

Chapter five: The unknown ally.

* * *

As the dust from the destroyed wall subsided, they found that it lead them to a straight path they had unlocked, after crashing a runaway trolley. The impact resulted in the doors bursting suddenly open.

Samuels quickly crawled out, got up, and rejoice more excitingly than Mariah "I-I lived!" He repeated, And copy's Mariahs cartoon dance; he was a bad dancer. Very bad.

Rhoda got out, and just watched, silently, as he danced terribly.

Samuels stopped, turned to Rhoda, saying seriously "We speak not of what I said earlier." She was about to say what he on said the trolley, but he intervened "Also if you do I will get my revenge."

"How exactly?"

"Hello. I'm a hacker remember." He reminded her "I'll find a way."

She realized that she forgot about that, felt like a fool for a moment, then realized something "Wait, then why didn't you hack into the trolley's system or something?"

He crossed his arms "Because I...I...Whoops." He also remembered that he could have done that. He slapped his face to show his frustration, at the same moment he meekly said "Ouch."

They both looked at the highly damaged trolley, a few parts fell off it. It was never going to function properly, again. Next they turned to the newly discovered tunnel ahead, and back at the exit out.

They turned to each other agreeing, quietly "To explore the corridor" so they proceeded to trek through the corridor, as they did the hall grew darker and darker; to the point of complete darkness as far as the eye could see.

At this point Samuels brought out his phone, turned it on and lit the hall.

Rhoda asked "Where do you think this leads?

"I don't know." He replied unsurely "I wonder how the others are doing?"

Rhoda knew the answer for one of them, Clara went home. However she wasn't sure about Mariah.

She was about to respond when she stepped on a tripwire. Suddenly carnival music played and the hall lit up with bright yellow, blue, and green lights hanging up on the walls. At the end of the hall a carnival range shooter game, with a giant inflatable clown head above.

A goofy sounding voice came from the voice box in the range booth "COME ONE! COME ALL!" The voice yelled eccentrically "Win a prize! here at the Strange Range!"

They looked at a sign that had a picture of four prizes; a teddy bear, 50-points; a giant teddy bear, 100-points; a golden apple, 150-points; and another key, 200-points.

The voice screamed in loud excitement once more "REMEMBER, KIDDOS! SHOOT THE DUCKS, AVOID THE BOMBS!"

Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

Is it because I'm terrible at these games?

Or because it might be a trap?

Or both?

Rhoda took the carnival gun in her hand and pressed the start button. Soon ducks and bombs began to appear in the fake pond background.

She aimed fired, and missed, she tried again and missed again. It went on for a while, until she finally hit something, it was a bomb. Behind them a small trap door opened up. Luckily it failed to open under either of them.

The voice box made a incidental trombone noise, and said "Oh no, try again."

"Please try to aim better." Samuels begged, fearing for falling down a trap. Rhoda tried again, she missed. However Samuels noticed that she's been missing each target by two inches to the right "Aim a little to the left of your target."

"Why?"

"Just trust me." He replied instantly.

She did as told and this time actually hit the duck.

They celebrated a little until the voice said "You have 10-points" this disappointed them, they were going to have to try harder to win this game.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor sat down on a couch, looking tired. He was clearly trying to get some rest.

I can't take it anymore.

This is just too much.

When will this end?

"Very soon, unless you stop those kids."

He jumped up. He scouted the room for the origin of the voice.

"Who's the..." A shadow stood in the corner and vanished "re?" The Neighbor recognized the shape, he immediately got up and continued to attempt to stop the intruders.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor exited the room, he didn't get very far.

Mariah was right outside reading a a blue book that read "mine only" it was the Neighbor's diary.

He was very furious at knowing someone was reading his diary "HEY!"

Mariah looked up, slowly put the book down, and swiftly broke through a window. The glass fell all over the outside of the house. She yelled "catch me if you can?" She also sang some kind of song; that made no sense nor really rhymed.

The Neighbor watched as she ran away.

What just happened?

-OOOOO-

Clara was eating a blueberry popsicle an ice cream bicycle cart. She handed the money to the vendor, who thanked her in return.

He then slowly continued on.

Clara continued walking back home. After a while she saw an approaching Mariah; she was practically a cheetah at the speend she was going. She attempted to get out of her way, she succeeded, and Mariah ran into a power pole. Surprisingly she wasn't in any pain, but she was a bit dizzy.

"They say...you shouldn't...shouldn't trust the thing that..that is-" she snapped out of her trance "Oh, hello Clara. When did you get here?"

Clara helped her up, Mariah thanked her with her famous merciless handshakes. Clara struggled to break free from her tight grip; eventually she escaped.

Mariah's phone suddenly rang. She answered as quickly as it rang "Hello, uh, huh...yes...understood, okay. BYE!" That was my boss, apparently I forgot to deliver some papers today. And by 'some' I mean ALL OF THEM!"

Clara slapped herself in the face out of disappointment.

I thought you did that.

How could you forget?

Just...how?

"Don't know." Answered Mariah.

Clara, just stated clearly and maybe a little harshly "Okay I am just going to ask, since no one else has at this point. HOW DO YOU DO THAT!?" She was talking about her guessing what everyone says in their heads.

She shrugged, I don't know. With that said she turned to see the ice cream man, who in turn saw her and ran from her.

Another chase began between the ice cream man and Mariah, who was faster than him and his bicycle cart. She caught up with him in less than a minute, knocking over the man.

"I would like a blueberry pop, a rocket swirl, and blah blah blah" she named every option to choose from.

She had a history of buying more ice cream than she can afford at one time. The company decided to just stop giving her ice cream, altogether. All that did was make getting ice cream harder for her.

He looks at Clara, in audibly saying "help me."

Clara put on her most phony, excited face "HEY! look a thing!" She pointed at nothing, but Mariah bought it and walked over to see what was there.

The ice cream man got himself and the cart off the ground, he thanked her, and gave her another free popsicle. Afterwards rushing off the scene.

Clara walked over to Mariah, who was still looking for "a thing", and said "You really need to find a new favorite desert."

"Okay. But first where is that thing?" She kept hoping to find it.

Clara just slapped her face, out of disappointment.

-OOOOO-

We return to Rhoda and Samuels, still trying to be an obviously rigged carnival game. They found out almost immediately after hitting twenty one duck and not one point being added.

This is impossible!

How are we supposed to win?

Wait a minute...

"Hey can't we just cheat...err unrig this thing?" She finally realized.

"Hold on. Give me a minute." He removed a panel from the side of the booth. He proceeded to hopefully try to rewire the whole system.

Soon as he managed to make the slightest change in wiring, a obnoxiously loud alarm noise came, the voice box announced strictly "Cheaters get what they deserve! No prizes and no second chances!" A wave of trap doors opened towards them.

They managed to climb on top of the booth on time, which was being supported by pillars below it.

A timer lit up on the wall. There guess was that it meant how long before the doors would close back up, and they were going to have to wait thirty minutes, apparently.

This is going to be fun.

-OOOOO-

Across the street to the Neighbor's house. A man sitting on bench, watched through binoculars as the Neighbor was putting more traps around his house.

I wonder if they'll give up?

Maybe not.

After all they didn't listen to my warning.

He continued to observe, only to be interupted by a child probably five or six years old, pulling at his grey jacket. The kid asked "Are you a spee?"

"A what?"

"A spee like the man from that mobie where he fights that bad guy with stuff."

He actually meant to say "spy" the stranger realized this and quickly answered "N-No!"

The kid said "ok." After a few seconds of creepily adorable staring, the boy left.

He looked back through his binoculars and saw that the Neighbor was now gone; maybe back in his house.

-OOOOO-

Mariah made it back to her job at the newspaper stand and after maybe a bit of a discussion from her boss, they finally came to a compromise. He would just have her deliver them now and asks her not to do it, again, after all she was his best News PaperGirl; also his only employee.

"Alright just don't forget, okay." He reminded her once more.

She saluted him "Okey-dokey, Mr. Quis." She got on her bike and rode off.

Clara just proceeded to head home.

-OOOOO-

The timer now read twenty-three minutes and still counting.

"Did you know that there's a place called-"

"Okay, maybe there's another way out!?" Rhoda said, finally getting annoyed, trying not to sound rude.

He got the message and stopped telling her facts she may or may not have known. He later asked "So what should we do?"

She said nothing.

"Hold on! Maybe if I am fast enough, I can somehow deactivate the system?" Without waiting he began to plug his phone into a an open socket. He began to work.

He faced the hardest part the password.

"Okay, what do you think it is? Because I've tried everything I could think of. And found nothing."

Rhoda looked at her notes.

Maybe I saw something?

So far nothing.

Wait!

"Hold on, try this." she handed him the paper that found on the trolley.

He typed in the numbers and got the following message "PASSWORD HINT: It's stronger than an ox" he was perplexed by this hint.

"This can mean anything."

Rhoda wanted to try something, so she snatched his phone and typed something in; the password was accepted. After a Moment the doors closed back up and it was safe to get off the booth.

"What was the password?" He questioned desperately.

"It was literally 'Stronger than an ox'." she answered. Though it was strange, she was impressed by the password choice.

He was furious at himself for being unable to figure out his password for year and she guessed it on the first try. But he congratulated her "Good job."

They went back to trying to win one of the prizes that would be useful to them; this time it was no longer rigged.

-OOOOO-

In the living room on the bottom floor, the Neighbor was peering through the window curtains as the man dressed with a hat, glasses, and other casual wear, was searching for him.

"Who is that guy? And why does he always come twice a month?" He closed the curtains when he turned to his direction.

He waited a short while, before checking again, and saw him put another envelope in his mail box. The stranger went back to hiding; only this time in a bush.

I'll just get that later.

Right now I have a mission.

Stopping a group of intruders.

He once again, headed back to the floor he last saw them on.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda and Samuels left the corridor with two teddy bears, a golden apple and a key, engraved to read "BASEMENT"

They found themselves in some sort of classroom with mannequins either being the teacher or student. The teacher stood in front of the chalkboard as the students observed. Ignoring them, the two walked to the exit only. The teacher moved in front of the door blocking their path.

Rhoda attempted to exit through the way they came in, but it was be obscured by the students.

Samuels brought out his phone to see if he could do anything, but it was taken by the teacher pointing to a sign reading "NO PHONES!" He tried again but with his small devices; only for the mannequin to take away his bag.

Samuels present Rhoda some chalk, given by the teacher "I don't think we can leave until we solve the problems?" He pointed to the board. On the board were a few math equations, two minus nine equals what, twenty-three minus x plus two equals twenty-one, and twenty minus seventy minus one-hundred-ninety-one equals what.

With that much known, they proceeded to answer the questions. It took less than a minute to answer them. Thinking they were done, they tried to exit again, only for a second chalk board to drop down. It was a riddle question this time

It was probably the most difficult, confusing riddle ever conceived. But they'll at least try to solve it or be trapped in a classroom forever.

-OOOOO-

Outside of an orange house with a flat roof was an kind elderly lady watering her garden. It was peaceful and quiet, until her lawn gnome was attacked by a tossed News Paper. A shriek came from her at the sudden occurrence.

"Sorry Ms. Gater! Bye, Ms. Gater!" Mariah exclaimed to The scared old lady.

Afterwards Mariah came to an immediate stop, causing her to fly off; safely land in front of the News stand.

Her boss stood amazed by her return "Five minutes? Five minutes, a new record for you."

"Well bye, see you tomorrow! She left.

She does know she left her bike?

Right?

"I almost forgot this!" She returned for her bike "thanks for reminding for me."

He knew her well enough to be used to that. He went back to watching over the stand.

-OOOOO-

The Neighbor, growing tired, finally spotted the only two intruders in his house. He yelled out of anger at the sight of a key in the boy's hand. The chase continued once more.

The ran through many corridors for about seven minutes,until the Neighbor some how lost them.

A noise rang from down the right corridor so he ran towards it. Unaware that one of them was hiding under a nearby table cover; the other in a normal, not broken closet.

They emerged from their hiding spots, and began to walk in the opposite direction of the Neighbor. After twenty-nine minutes, they finally found the elevator and were about to go back to the first floor to leave.

As Samuels was about to push the button, the Neighbor grabbed him by the wrist, his face looking angrier than earlier. She tried to break free but his grip was too tight.

Samuels tried to break free, but as he did the Neighbor took the key from his hand and let him go.

The two just made dash for the elevator and left their pursuer, who didn't chase them this time.

They're getting way to close.

I need a fail safe for next time.

But what?

-OOOOO-

The two made there way back to the side walk. The sky was darkening. They had been there longer than they thought to be, Rhoda checked her watch; it was 8:13PM

As they thought the danger was over, Samuels got hit by a pebble.

They turned to where it was thrown from and a man, covering his face with his hands, emerges.

"Hello, I am agent 11A," he turned to Rhoda "so let me ask you why did you ignore the warning?"

"So that was you on the phone?"

He simply answered "Maybe." He quickly changed the subject "Alright so here's what I want you to know. At precisely 8:00PM head to this exact spot; bring your friends."

"Why?" Samuels asked, not sure if he trusts him.

"Well now that you've entered his house my mission is now your mission." He explained "So it looks like your my responsibility."

He then went into bush and sprinted away with the bush over himself.

-OOOOO-

Rhoda was back in her house just in time to see her father, who returned from the hospital, he gave her a hug upon seeing her. Her mom then joined in; they were happy in each other's company.

"So did I miss anything while I was away? other than the fact you missed curfew." He asked them.

Not much happen with Rhoda's mom, she was normally stays home. However Rhoda has had a very busy week with evading traps, avoiding capture, and trying to discover the secrets of the house next door. They both said "Not much."

Everyone went into the dining room to have a nice spaghetti dinner. They weren't the famous sandwich her mom would make, but they were almost as good. It was nice for them to finally be back together, again.

She told her dad about how she made some new friends and more; leaving out the repeated breaking and entering of their neighbor's house.

-OOOOO-

Though it was way passed her bedtime she stayed up a little longer staring out her window, watching as her neighbor snuck out to retrieve a n envelope from his mailbox. After that he rushed stealthily back to his house.

She wrote down in her note book "Recieved a mysterious letter." She closed the curtains as he turned back towards her.

"You are very strange. What are you hiding?"

She then remembered about something, grabbed her phone and was about say to her friends where to meet her tomorrow and when, only she didn't have their phone numbers.

Well this just got frustrating.

How did I forget to get their contacts.

What am I going to do?

A phone book fell from her book shelf, where she found their names already highlighted.

"That should help."

* * *

Please let me know if there's anything that needs to be fixed.


	6. Chapter 6

What's in your basement?

Chapter six: Surreal.

* * *

The morning had arrived and Rhoda found her self to have awakened much earlier than she should have been. The time was about 7:17 A.M.

She still proceeded with her routine. She quickly found that she had more than enough free time, so she decided to set her alarm and take a quick nap, because she was still sleepy.

She got on the bed and shut her eyes; unaware that her alarm was more than an hour off.

-OOOOO-

A loud beeping noise could be repeatedly heard. She woke up, Rhoda was in shock as she realized that it was now 6:57 PM.

WHAT?

How did I sleep for this long?

She fell out of the bed and left the room in a hurry. Not paying attention to anything else.

-OOOOO-

She was now downstairs, as she looked around there, she noticed no one was home. She payed no mind to this and continued to the front door. And as she did, the entire house shook. She hid under the dining room table.

She was terrified.

However she noticed that nothing other than shaking was happening. She then saw through a window a giant foot. It quickly went away. She just stood still, not sure what to think.

What just happened?

Was that real?

Before she could even comprehend what was going on, an eye poked through, searching the room for something and then went away. Immediately a rubber gloved hand broke through the glass of a now shattered window. It was trying to look for something.

Rhoda saw an opening and crawled out of the room stealthily. She headed back upstairs.

-OOOOO-

She made it to her room. she swiftly hid under her bed, hoping that whatever was happening would end.

The shaking began once again. She was hoping that whatever it is was leaving, however the roof was roughly pulled off by the giant. Rhoda just stayed silent.

It was pointless for a giant hand just snatched the chair, revealing Rhoda, and tossed it outside. At that point she could make out who it was; it was the Neighbor. He was humongous and she wasn't sure but she could have swore she saw a white square house with a red roof on his back.

Before she could get up the Neighbor caught her.

-OOOOO-

He brought her close to his face. At that point Rhoda wished it were all a-

"ATTACK!"

A battle cry was heard, and suddenly the giant was pelted by a few pebbles causing him to drop Rhoda. She was falling but was caught by some kind of fast blurring object; that kept repeating "WAKE UP!"

-OOOOO-

Rhoda woke up in her room. She at first was confused then relieved. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was actually 12:16 PM.

Rhoda grabbed her notebook, and was about to leave.

However, she couldn't help but notice a shine coming from behind her book shelf. She was curious, so she pushed the heavy bookshelf enough to reveal a small crevice in the wall. Whatever was hidden in the wall, she couldn't reach it.

She tried to pry the small hole open. It wasn't working as well as she hoped.

Rhoda just left thinking it was nothing important.

-OOOOO-

She walked across the street to the Neighbor's house. It didn't take very long.

She waited a while for the others to arrive, but she was a bit early, so it may take a while. She decided to take a look into her notebook, recalling every clue they had gathered over the week.

Her recollection was rudely interrupted by a certain neighbor yelling at her "Stay out of my yard!" He looked more angry than usual.

She retorted "I'm not in your yard."

He just glared at her and walked back into his house. Although at this point it was more of a fortress than a house.

She continued to wait for everyone else until they finally came; they were a few minutes late. Samuels was wearing a purple sweater today and texting as he walked. When asked who he was texting he said "Ma-no one" he paused and questioned "why?"

"No reason"

He acts like nothing was happening.

Then came Clara who was carrying a bag of top secret equipment. And when asked what was inside she said "It's a sehcret that you don't need to know."

Then came Mariah on a busted bike that still suprrisingly worked. She also looked burned out, literally. And everyone was just completely and utterly confused of why she looked as if she walked out of a battle. She eccentrically explained "You should have seen it! There was an army of robots a dozen blocks from here and they were fighting blah blah blah."

"Wait what?" Samuels said. Then looked at his screen and up again, again, and again "Then who am I texti..." he threw his phone to the ground, stomping on it. Then reaching into his bag, taking out a new phone.

His answer as of what he did was "you can't trust everyone you meet" afterwards he began to create a new account.

-OOOOO-

Once everyone was there Samuels began to discuss a plan of entry; some of the plan involving conversation over the phone, the Neighbor's phone.

However Mariah had another idea. Although, instead of telling them, she just went ahead and rang the door bell fifty-two time in less than fifteen seconds. Then she stopped to eat a slightly burnt candy bar she had on her.

As if there was flood coming the Neighbor opened the door and just yelled "CAN YOU GET ANYMORE ANNOYING!" He was the same as usual but was now wearing goggles, apparently he was ready for what he thought would happen next.

Mariah threw something in his face but it was a cherry pie not blinding powder this time.

"what was the point of that?" He muttered through the pie tin before taking it off to find no one standing there. Mariah was gone, he turned and found a few pie shaped footprints leading inside upstairs.

Clara hit herself in the face as she remembered that, that there's a shark guarding the top of the stairs.

A robotic fish with a bear trap for a mouth was thrown through the second floor window. Mariah poked her head out of a window yelling "Hi guys, did you know that there's a fake shark up here." She turned at the sound of footprints "I'll meet you somewhERE DOWNSTAIRS IN MINU-OK BYE!" she spoke quickly before running another direction.

-OOOOO-

They stood before the door leading to the basement. The lock was what stood in their way along with an id scanner and two boards. They had someone who could pick locks; they had a hacker who still had a key card from yesterday. However, they still needed a way to remove the boards.

All of them searched around the room for anything that could help. They came up with nothing. So they decided to try another another room.

-OOOOO-

it had a fridge containing two cartons of milk and some fruit. A plate of waffles on the counter and nest to it was a bottle of syrup, and list of how to make waffles with inaccurate measurements.

They managed to check every cupboard and drawer, only to come up empty. They would have checked the fridge but it was chained tightly.

"What do you think is so important that he locked it up?" Said agent 11A.

Samuels shrugged there was nothing they had to open it. However, someone spooked him as they handed him a hammer. Samuels fell to the ground and got up swiftly with embarrassment.

It was Mariah who was breathing like she just ran an entire marathon twice. "I told you to meet me upstairs in two," she said an overly sad tone "what took you all so long?"

Rhoda spoke "No you didn't."

"Oh...oh well let's go" she replied like everything was alright.

They were relieved that it was her. The only thing they wondered was: where's the Neighbor.

-OOOOO-

They arrived to basement door. Now they were ready to uncover the mystery of it all.

They took the hammer and began to remove each nail quickly. However they still needed to deal with the normal lock; Clara took out her hair pin and dealt with the problem with ease. Once the boards were gone and the lines locks were removed the door just swung open, letting out a bright light.

They all walked in and that's when the Neighbor entered the living. He was shocked then he began to charge at them with hatred.

They all immediately ran through the basement door.

-OOOOO-

They were quickly decending into darkness as there were no lights on. They didn't mind since Samuels used the flashlight in his phone.

After a few steps they finally reached a very creepy room.

Rhoda was pretty terrified by the sight.

What the-

Is that a-

Oh my-

They just walked around the candles making a certain formation that should not be mentioned. Before they had time to think about it some more; the Neighbor rushes in, looked at the intruders with horror then he snapped out of it. He screamed "Now you've all done!"

Clara pointed to an opening through one of the walls and like lighting they bolted out of there. Soon they found several different dimly lit abstract hallways leading in different directions. They went separate ways without thinking and escaped their pursuer.

The Neighbor was too late to see which way they went and just picked a random hall.

-OOOOO-

Clara found herself at the end of the surprisingly short hall. She knew she couldn't turn back because of the Neighbor. So out of anger she took her hand, made a fist, and punched the wall.

She was happy when she did as the wall had actually been made of thin wallpaper only, no wood or brick.

She started running, again.

-OOOOO-

Mariah had been unfortunate enough to enter a hall with a trap door, which she fell in immediately.

She kept yelling for someone to help her out. But no one came.

Oh well.

Only one thing left to do.

Play a tune.

She pulled out a harmonica from her pocket and played very badly, an upbeat song; she remembered hearing it from somewhere but wasn't sure from where. It wen a little like: LALALA-LALALA-LALALA-Dun-Dun and so on.

After a minute she got bored and tried climbing out. She tried over nine times before trying to build some stairs out of cardboard boxes.

-OOOOO-

As for Samuels he got lost trying to keep up with Mariah and now he is pretty sure he is lost.

He tried the only door he could find and saw a giant classroom. Mannequins we're moving every time the bell rang but stopped when it rang again. He quickly closed it as if there were no tomorrow.

Than he walked off, repeatedly saying to himself "NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE..."

-OOOOO-

Rhoda and the agent were walking in a normal hallway that was relatively safe. They passed by all the locked doors and dodged easy-to-spot holes on the floor.

They eventually entered a room containing a generator. And was blocked by an iron gate with wires attached to the generator.

Rhoda pushed the button and it began to loudly raise the gate. Loud enough for the Neighbor to understand where at least one of them were. However at this time the machine malfunctioned and the bars stopped just a few feet off the ground. They had very little time to find another way so they crawled under the bars as fast as they were able to.

They made it to the other side on time before the Neighbor arrived.

He stared at them and quickly slid under the bars. This surprised them. But nonetheless they kept running.

-OOOOO-

They all eventually wound up in the center of the entire maze like basement. They at first were happy to have found each other until the Neighbor came, he was about as angery as a rabid dog.

He clenched his fists tight and said as calmly as possible, which wasn't very calm "I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF MY HOUSE!" But he covered his mouth quickly.

No one knew why until that very moment.

All exits were suddenly closed off by gates. About everyone was trapped except for the agent. He realized this and just left.

The Neighbor said in a worrying tone "He just left us." And began crying.

One of them attempted to calm him down but he screamed "This trap can only be opened from the outside. That means we're stuck here" he sobbed the last sentence. They tried to tell him maybe he went to find the switch or something. "And he doesn't even know that so where did he go."

-OOOOO-

Elsewhere down one of the many halls. The agent was trapped in the same hole that Mariah fell in, he felt like he deserved it a bit.

"I guess this is what I get for leaving?" He understood, himself.

He truly did feel bad about it but had something on his mind. He had a mission, one that he strongly believes must be completed. He only has one chance to complete it but now that might take a bit longer to.

I wonder if there's another way out?

Well I see a crushed box.

And that's it...

So with that known he simply continued jumping as high as possible in hopes of climbing out. It was an ineffictive method of escape. It really was.

-OOOOO-

Back at the ranch, we can see that Samuels is trying desperately to disarm the system, however the system is either to encrypted to be easily cracked or his new phone needs an update. He was lookinging more frustrated with each failed attempt. Then he just sat down in defeat.

Mariah simply yelled a bunch of gibberish, a twitch in her eye for a moment. No one asked why not even Samuels who was too occupied with silently crying.

Clara hoped to shake the bars apart which wasn't as effective or possible as she thought.

The Neighbor tried to remember if there was another way of getting out from the inside. He was really disappointed with how foolproof this trap turned out to be.

There must be a way out.

Right?

Why did I make this room?

He growled with upsetting tone as he failed to find a solution.

He raised his hand in the air "WHY!?" He screamed from the top of his lungs.

Rhoda simply examined everything in the room, hoping to see some type flaw such as: a vent, a thin wall they could break through, etc.

It was only after a minute that Mariah began to panic. Clara getting as far from her as possible, but her attempts of distancing herself from Mariah were a bust. Then she started running around the room everyone bracing themselves as she nearly bumped into most of them.

Then she ran into Rhoda knocking her to the ground.

-OOOOO-

An alarm sounded with annoyance. Rhoda woke up in her bed in her room, in her house; surprised, she checked to make sure she wasn't dreaming all of this; the pinch she gave to her arm hurt a little. She instantly knew she was definitely awake.

She checked the time on her alarm clock. The time was 7:17 A.M. She got up trying to comprehend exactly what just happened. "Okay, I woke-" she remembered ", then I went to the meet my friends. And we finally made it to the basement, but then got trapped..." she couldn't Remember the next part.

After sometime the answer hit her on the head hard like a brick. She exclaimed "Mariah knocked me out!"

-OOOOO-

She spent the next half hour thinking of whether or not it was real or not. Then she recalled something and went towards the bookcase, she moved it with all the force she had to find a crevice revealing something shiny on the other side.

She tried to grab it but couldn't fit her hand through the hole.

Realizing this she knew that she would need something to get to it. She knew that her dad was keeping tools in the garage somewhere.

-OOOOO-

Unlike her dream though, this time she had more time. She went downstairs to find that the house was empty. She was hoping there would be no sudden giant appearing out of nowhere.

She made her way to the garage where she searched everywhere. The boxes, the shelves, the jacket hanging on the wall, and finally on top of the car. She found it on top of the yellow buggy.

"There it is." She said out loud to herself. She took the hammer from the top of the car and left. She quickly looked back at the car, staring carefully into the interior. Bringing her note book out and writing on it in big, bold letters: **spider nest inside!**

Then she just ran out of the garage.

-OOOOO-

Loud thuds were being made in Rhoda's room as she chipped away bits of the wall. Within seconds she finally could see a remote of some kind with an on/off switch. It was really reflective, almost blinded Rhoda when she took it out.

She tried to figure out what it was for. So she cautiously flicked the switch. And then she could see out her window the Neighbor, barging through his front door. He was really angry as he sprinted towards his fuse box on the left side of his house. He was surprised to find it was still on.

He ran to the front and saw that his power was still out then he ran back to his fuse box.

Rhoda was sure she knew what this did but in order to be certain she flicked the switch again and the lights in house turned on once again. He looked over his shoulder and then simply walked back inside.

-OOOOO-

Skipping ahead by a few hours, we are back in front of the lawn she was on time to meet everyone. Everyone was acting the exact same way as they were in her dream. Mariah was on fire, Samuels smashed his phone, and Clara was carrying an emergency bag.

Everything was happening as should be.

Now came the next part where Mariah ran off to ring the Neighbor's doorbell, throw a pie in his face, and run upstairs; the Neighbor following her. She told everyone to follow her. She quickly led the way upstairs.

-OOOOO-

They found a wall upstairs matching the outline of Mariah. It sounds like she smashed through the wall but Rhoda noticed the jackhammer on the floor that was still on. She also saw a broken window, where if you were to look out you could see a robot shark on the lawn.

"So what now?" Asked Samuels.

Not even a second Mariah came back with a hammer in her hand, she frantically exclaimed "There you guys are!" Before she made her way down the stair. She smiled widely "I got the hammer!"

"So do I." Rhoda shows her the hammer she brought.

Mariah exclaims "The more the merrier!"

The Neighbor came back. He charged at the from down the hall only to have some time of wall of plastic obscure his route. Mariah simply yelled "They always fall for it. Am I right Samuels, I mean remember that one time whe-"

Clara covered her mouth and told her "Not now." This was because every second counts and the Neighbor could get past it at anytime and mostly because she really didn't want to hear another word. Not one word.

-OOOOO-

They quickly unlocked the door and it swung immediately open. The rushed through without wasting a single moment of time.

Climbing carefully down each step. They walked into a laundry room. Everyone was really disappointed, mostly Mariah who was hoping for it to be something cool like a yo-yo, or carnival, or something.

Clara slapped herself in the face from pure and deep anger. She took her fury out on everyone "This is what I wasted the last week of summer on? A stupid laundry room." She stormed back up the stairs.

until the agent opened a fridge in the corner to find that there was more to the basement than meets the eye.

They cautiously went in one by one due to how small the fridge was. Then the Neighbor finally came in where he scoped the room to find no one inside. He sprinted toward the now closed fridge to make sure no one used it but when he did it was completely blocked off from the inside.

-OOOOO-

On the other side of everyone worked hard using all the furniture in the room. From the armchair to the tables to whatever else was around. Eventually they couldn't even see the actual hole in the wall anymore.

"Okay it looks like we have some time so where to first." Questioned Samuels and Mariah in almost perfect sync. They looked around and were able to o more clearly take in what the room had to offer. It was just another empty room with-

"hold on how are there windows down here?" Asked Clara who was no longer enraged.

The agent smashed one of the window "Good question? Here's your answer."

On the other side was just a poster depicting a perfect recreation of the neighborhood. It had everything the trees, the lampposts, and even what Mariah kept claiming was her orange house. But everything else were just stage lights and posters. They spotted a door as they peeked through the windows and knew where to go.

* * *

sorry for the wait, the only excuse I have is procrastination. Hope you like it.


End file.
